The winning design of West 8 and ING-Bremond for a new ecological district just outside of Paris emphasizes the insular character of the area. The experience of and the identification with the surrounding water of the Seine is being maximized; the two shores each have in their own way a relationship with the water.

Play England, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have launched, for the first time in the England, detailed guidance for the design of children’s play spaces.

Free copies of the guide can be ordered by calling (+44) 0845 60 222 60 or click here

THE English have their allotments; in Sydney we use the streets. In a variation on guerilla gardening, Sydneysiders are moving veggie plots from the backyard to the street verge, and converting formerly fallow public land into mini-market gardens.